Display unit



5; 1969 T. c. LASSWELL I 3,458,946

DISPLAY UNIT Filed Nov. 5, 1966 FIG.4

INVENTOR TULL c. LASSWELL [M [1. ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,458,946DISPLAY UNIT Tull C. Lasswell, Clarkston, Mich. (230 Pawnee Path, LakeOrion, Mich. 48035) Filed Nov. 3, 1966, Ser. No. 591,890 Int. Cl. G09f3/18; A47f /00 U.S. Cl. 40-19.5 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Theinvention relates to a display unit which can be removably attached toany suitable supporting urface such as glass, wood, steel, tile and thelike, and which is provided with hangers in the form of pockets, clipshooks and the like.

The hangers, clips or hooks are adapted to support merchandise such as,for example, razor blades, lighter flints, finger nails, nail clippers,phonograph needles and the like for proper display thereof, and thedisplay unit has preferably an adequate advertising message printed onits visible face. The display unit may be easily removed from thesupporting surface without harming such surface, when no longer in use.

The principal object of the invention, therefore, is to provide adisplay unit provided with means for supporting merchandise to bedisplayed and having a space on which is printed an adequate advertisingmessage.

Another object of the invention is to provide a display unit of thecharacter indicated which can be conveniently affixed to any supportingsurface.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method formanufacturing such a display unit at a substantially low cost.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent when the following description of a few examples of structuralembodiments thereof, together with a description of a preferred methodof manufacturing the same are considered with the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric front view of an example of a display unitaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an isometric rear view of the example of a display unit ofFIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view showing the display unit of FIG- URES 1 and 2 inposition on a supporting surface with goods being displayed by beingattached to the hangers thereof;

FIGURE 4 is a schematic sectional view of the display unit of FIGURES1-2 attached to a supporting surface.

FIGURE 5 is an isometric view of a modification of the display unit ofFIGURES l-4;

FIGURE 6 is an exploded diagrammatic view of another embodiment ofdisplay units according to the invention in the process of beingmanufactured;

FIGURE 6a is a modification of a portion of the embodiment of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 7 is a view of the display units of FIGURE 6 at a consecutivestep in the manufacturing process;

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view along line 8-8 of FIGURE 7;

ice

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view along line 9-9 ofFIGURE 7;

FIGURE 10 is a view similar to FIGURE 9, but showing a display unitattached to a supporting surface; and

FIGURE 11 is an isometric view of a further modification of theinvention.

Referring now to the drawings, an embodiment of the invention isillustrated in FIGURES 1-2, wherein a display unit is made of a sheet ofstiff paper, canvas, card- 'board, plastic, or the like, defining asubstantially thin flat body portion 12 provided with an appropriateadvertising message 14 on one side 16 thereof, and having a coating 18,of any convenient commercially available pressure sensitive on the otherface or side 20 of the flat body portion 12. The coating 18 of pressuresensitive adhesive is normally protected by a peelable covering sheet22, sometimes called release paper, which may be easily manually peeledolf in the manner shown at 24 so as to expose the adhesive coated face20 of the body portion 12. In the example of the embodiment of FIGURES1-2, the display unit flat body portion 12 is provided with slit-likeapertures, as shown at 26, or alternately hole-like apertures (notshown), permitting portion 30 of a substantially V-shaped wire clip,hook, or hanger 28 to project therethrough at an angle relatively to theplane of the side 16 of the display unit flat body portion 12. A portionof the wire clip, hook or hanger 28 is normally disposed between thepeelable covering sheet 22 and the coated face 20 of the display unitbody portion 12, as shown at 32. In this manner, when the peelablecovering sheet 22 is manually removed from the pressure sensitiveadhesive coated face 20 the adhesive coating 18 is exposed and thedisplay unit 10 may be attached to any convenient surface 34, as shownin FIGURES 3 and 4, made of metal, wood, glass, tile, or the like, bymanually pressing against the surface. In this manner, any merchandisewhich it is desired to display to the public may be attached to thehooks, or hangers 28, as best shown in FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 represents a modification of the invention wherein the clips,hooks or hangers are made of a plastic tab 38, having a portion 40angled such as to project through the slit 26 in the fiat body portion12 of the display unit, another portion 42 of the plastic tab 38 beingnormally sandwiched between the adhesive coated face of the body portion12 and the peelable covering sheet 22 such that when the covering sheet22 is peeled off and the display unit is applied against a supportingsurface, the portion 42 of the clips or hooks is sandwiched between thesupporting surface and the adhesive coated face of the unit body portion12.

As shown in FIGURE 2, even the adhesive coated face 18 of the displayunit body portion 12 may be provided with an adequate advertisingmessage 15 such that, when the display unit is attached to a glass orother transparent supporting surface, the advertising message may bevisible from both sides of the display unit.

A preferred mode of making such a display unit is to use a flat bodyportion 12 made of transparent material having an adhesive coated face18. Face 16 of the flat body portion 12 is printed with a mirror imageof the advertising message which, consequently, can be read in thenormal manner when observed from face 18 through the transparentmaterial of the flat body portion 12. Face 16 is then coated with anopaque layer which is in turn printed with a normal advertising message14.

FIGURES 6-11 represent a further modification, of the invention, FIGURES6-7 particularly representing a schematic illustration of a method ofmanufacturing the same in mass production. A continuous strip 44 ofstiff paper, plastic, canvas or cardboard is coated on one side thereof20 with a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive 18 by means of anyconventional coating machine. The outer face 12 of strip 44 has anadvertising message 14 repeated at regular intervals thereon. Acontinuous strip of zig-zag wire 28 is disposed in engagement with thecoated face 20 of strip 44, and a continuous strip 46 of material whichis capable of protecting the pressure adhesive coating While beingadapted to be peeled therefrom is applied against the coated face 20 ofstrip 44 such that a continuous sandwich-like strip is formed which issheared or cut off, as shown at line 48 in FIGURE 7, so as to form aplurality of separate individual display units 10. In order to formclips, hooks or hangers for merchandise to be displayed by beingsupported by the display unit, a sharp knife or razor blade may be usedto cut out the material of the body portion 12 of the display unit alongthe contour of the bent upper half portion 30 of the zig-zag wire 28,and such bent upper half portion 30 may be manually bent relatively tothe lower half portion 32 so as to form an angled projecting clip orhanger as shown at 50, the lower portion 32 of the zig-zag wire 28remaining sandwiched between the coated face 20 of the display unit bodyportion 12 and the peelable covering sheet 22. It is evident that hooks50 may be thus formed also after the peelable cover sheet 22 has beenremoved and the display board has been applied on a supporting surface34, as shown in FIGURE 10.

Preferably, in order to facilitate the formation of the clips or hangers50 where so desired, the continuous stiff paper, canvas, plastic orcardboard strip 44 may be precut along the outline of the bent upperhalf portion 30 of the zig-zag wire 28, such that what is only requiredfrom the user of the display board is to manually bend the upper halfportion 30 of the zig-zag wire so as to form clips, hooks or hangers 50at the appropriate position, either before or after the peelable coversheet 22 is removed and the display unit is adhered to a supportingsurface 34.

It is evident that the shape of the zig-zag wire 28 as illustrated isgiven for illustrative purpose only and that the zig-zag wire 28 mayhave any other convenient shape such as, for example, being a continuousstrip of wire shaped as shown at 28' in FIGURE 6a.

As shown in FIGURE 11, the display unit according to the invention maybe provided with pocket-like support means 31 adapted to hold packagedmerchandise 37, instead of being provided with hangers in the form ofclips, hooks or the like, although clips or hooks and pocket-likesupport means may be included in one display unit.

It is obvious that the invention has also utility for holding any objectprovided with support means engageable with a clip or hook such aspaintings, framed photographs and the like.

Having thus described the invention by means of several illustrativestructural examples thereof and by means of a preferred method formanufacturing the same, modifications and changes wherein will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art, what is claimed as novel andsought to be protected by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A display unit comprising a flat body portion coated on one face withpressure sensitive adhesive for attaching to a supporting surface, apeelable covering sheet normally protecting said pressure sensitiveadhesive and a plurality of support elements each having a portionadapted to project from the other face of said flat body portion forsupporting an object, wherein each of said support elements is a metalwire hook and a plurality of said metal wire hooks is formed of acontinuous zig-zag bent wire having every other bent portion adapted tobe bent over when in use so as to project from said other side of saidflat body portion, every alternate bent portion 4 being arranged toremain between said fiat body portion and said covering sheet.

2. The display unit of claim 1 having an advertising message printed onsaid other face of said body portion.

3. The display unit of claim 1 having advertising messages visible onboth faces of said body portion.

4. The display unit of claim 1 wherein each of said support elements isa pocket-like member adapted to receive and support an object.

5. The method of manufacturing display units, each of which comprises aflat body portion coated on one side with pressure sensitive adhesivefor attaching to a Supporting surface, a peelable covering sheetnormally protecting said pressure sensitive adhesive and a plurality ofhook elements each having a portion disposed between said fiat bodyportion and said covering sheet and a portion adapted to project on theother side of said fiat body portion through an aperture in said fiatbody portion, said method comprising: coating one side of a continuousstrip of the material forming said flat body portion with said adhesive,disposing a continuous zig-zag bent wire longitudinally along said sidecoated with adhesive, applying said peelable covering sheet from acontinuous strip on said side coated with adhesive and cutting to lengthto form individual display units.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising precutting on said bodyportion a plurality of cut-out slits corresponding to the contour ofevery alternate bent portion of said zig-zag bent wire adapted to bebent over when in use so as to project on the other side of said strongpaper.

7. A display unit comprising a flat body member coated on one face withpressure sensitive adhesive for attaching to a supporting surface, apeelable covering sheet normally protecting said pressure sensitiveadhesive and a plurality of substantially thin hook elements each havinga first portion disposed between said flat body member and said coveringsheet and an integral second portion adapted to project from the otherface of said flat body member through an aperture in said flat bodymember for defining an angled substantially straight hanger forremovably supporting an article.

8. The display unit of claim 7 wherein each of said hook elements is asubstantially rigid plastic tab.

9. The display unit of claim 7 wherein each of said hook elements is awire hook.

10. The display unit of claim 9 wherein said hook elements are formed ofa continuous zig-zag bent wire having every other bent portion adaptedto be bent over when in use so as to project from said other side ofsaid flat body portion, every alternate bent portion being arranged toremain between said flat body portion and said covering sheet.

11. The display unit of claim 7 having an advertising message printed onsaid other face of said body portion.

12. The display unit of claim 7 having an advertising message printed soas to be visible on both faces of said body portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,999,633 4/1935 Greenhood.2,765,998 10/1956 Engert. 2,797,509 7/1957 Golden 40l0 FOREIGN PATENTS1,460,738 10/1966 France.

EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner WENCESLAO J. CONTRERAS, AssistantExaminer U.S. Cl. X.R. 211-59, 86; 248205

